What is the reason posters use an *

[Wescopc]

Many posters use an * when using a providers name such as - G*, D*, E*. What is the reason for this? Makes it hard to do a search, as the two letter combination is to short for this board's search engine.
Bob

 

[KE4EST]

It all started with Echostar....using a * short for star thus E*. Then it kinda got to were a lot of people started doing it for other things. D*=Directv, E*=Echostar or DishNetwork, etc.
I agree it can be confusing for a newbie or search problem.

 

[stone phillips420]

you sure it didnt start with *choice satrchoice lol

 

[truckracer]

Basically it is a legality thing- You would technically not be liable for anything bad or objective you may say if you did not explicitly spell out the name of a company specifically identifying them.

In the legal world "slang terms" do not count.

I am not sure what you could say that would make you liable for anything but in this paranoid world of law we live in, it is good measure.

 

[Mr Tony]

The original 3 were Dish Network (Echostar), Primestar and Alphastar

so it was
E*
P*
A*

Directv I guess became D* due to the others

Glorystar is well....G*

I guess some of us don't like to type out Glorystar, Primestar, StarChoice, Expressvu, etc so we may do it once but then use shorter names like G*, P*, SC and Evu